Commentary and analysis to persuade people to become socialist and to act for themselves, organizing democratically and without leaders, to bring about a world of common ownership and free access. We are solely concerned with building a movement of socialists for socialism. We are not reformists with a programme of policies to patch up capitalism.

Wednesday, December 03, 2014

The Morass in Mozambique

Relative peace and
stability since 1992 when the war ended, make Mozambique attractive to
investors, and the economy has grown by more than 7 percent each year over the
last 10 years, spurred by projects such as the MOZAL Aluminium plant near
Maputo, and from mining by Brazilian company Vale in Tete province. Recent
discoveries of huge quantities of natural gas continue to push growth upward. But
the mineral and gas extraction projects create few jobs - just 3,800 in 2010,
according to a 2014 report by Africa Economic Outlook. The few jobs that
Mozambique's "megaprojects" create tend be highly qualified positions
that are often taken by foreigners. The capital-intensive projects in
Mozambique use heavy machinery to extract coal and gas and require little
manpower.

Mozambique's progress in reducing poverty and child
mortality has stalled in recent years, and it remains one of the world's least
developed countries, still greatly dependent on foreign aid, with about half
the population living in poverty. A 2012 report by the Open Society Foundation
estimated that 70 percent of people under age 35 in Mozambique - who form the
majority of the 25 million population - cannot find stable employment. Today,
the private sector creates just 18,000 jobs for 370,000 youth who enter the
labour market yearly - a ratio of one job per 20 entrants. Jobs in the Mozambique's public sector are
highly sought after and a common complaint is that they are reserved only for
those close to the ruling FRELIMO party, which has governed Mozambique since
independence from Portugal in 1975.

"For many, the only way to get promoted is to join the
ruling party," said Fernando Lima, a Mozambican analyst and CEO of
independent media group Mediacoop

According to Cremilde Domingo, a social worker at Boane prison, the majority of young people
she works with commit crimes related to
poverty and lack of opportunity, such as
burglary, robbery, and stealing mobile
phones. "We have natural resources but no jobs," she said.